Then Tiny walked across the Common.
And the road gleamed before him in the sun, so that it was like walking on a silver river; for the frost was oozing out of the ground, though all under the gorse-bushes was white still. And the ivy on the beeches in the Wood at the foot of the Fort-hill shone till it dazzled, while the beeches themselves were a cloud of purple.
And when Tiny got into the shadow of the Wood the road was hard again, and rang to his feet; and all the little pools were feathered over with ice; and a chaffinch sat on a bare bough, and pinked.
And all that was lovely. Only Tiny didn't see any of it: for he was so sad inside that everything was dark to him.
But when he had gone by, the Commander-in-Chief, who had been hiding behind a beech-trunk, came out, and stood in the road, with his hands on his knees, and laughed most horridly.
Book VI headpiece